All good things come to those who wait. Since almost the inception of this blog, I have written about BOGUS BREAST CANCER CHARITIES. I never knew they existed until I had breast cancer. Then like magic they started calling. I still do not know who sold my information and that is something I still want to know: WHO SELLS THE NAMES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND ADDRESSES OF CANCER PATIENTS FOR A LIVING?

At the bottom are some of the posts I have written, and the posts that STILL five years later generate comments almost weekly is anything written about the Breast Cancer Survivors Foundation.

Ah yes the Breast Cancer Survivors Foundation. Now they have a website. They even have a PayPal account . They now list their address as: 18851 NE 29th Avenue Suite 700
Aventura FL 33180 800-338-1740 E-mail: info@breastcancersurvivor.org (Feel free to send them lots of JUNK mail. Feel free to encourage people to call them about Prince Albert in a Can)

You know I have written about getting harassing calls on behalf of so-called breast cancer charities. We have already covered that. What you do NOT know is the government is truly trying to crack down on these types of operations.

Last year, the FTC and all 50 states joined in an action against four supposed cancer charities – including one called the Breast Cancer Society – that raised funds from telemarketing. The feds and states said that the charities spent 97% of the money they raised on either their private fundraisers or themselves (trips to Disney World and cruises, among other expenses).

The government eventually shut down all four “charities.” The articles above are about what happened. There are tons of articles, I just chose these at random.

Anyway………..I’ve spoken to a charity regulator in New York in the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, who told me that her office wants to hear from people who have received telemarketing calls from charities that seem suspect.

People!!! This is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The regulator suggested that you or anyone you know receiving these calls writes down as much as you can about the call, especially the time and date of the call, the phone number the call comes from, and who the caller says they are affiliated with (do they say they are calling from a professional fundraiser, or do they claim to represent the organization), and then send that information to the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, at charities.complaints@ag.ny.gov

And (super important) indicate in your e-mail whether you are willing to speak to someone at the AG’s office, and if so, provide your contact information. PLEASE, they don’t bite victims and the New York AG’s Charity Bureau has some fearsome teeth to take a bite out of this B.S. once and for all. And if you have received these calls and/or donated YOU ARE A VICTIM, aren’t you? It’s not like you called them at dinner time and pushed them to take your hard earned money, right?

It would be so nice to put these people out of business who make money out of preying on people when they are vulnerable, wouldn’t it? This is an opportunity. Again e-mail charities.complaints@ag.ny.gov

PLEASE….so many have been telling me stories about how these people took advantage for five years now. Carpe diem! Here is a chance to change the game. Do Dr. Yulius Poplyansky and others deserve to get away with this any longer? I say NO.

Here are a couple of things I pulled off GuideStar to hopefully sway you even more into taking the time to contact the NYAG Charities Bureau at charities.complaints@ag.ny.gov

There are so many honest and terrific charities. Let GuideStar help you make an educated decision. They list the form 990s and so on. They are a terrific resource. Google your charities. See if people are complaining about them, or if the media is reporting on them.

Below are prior posts on breast cancer “charities” who believe that charity begins at home, i.e. you support them, not so much on the supporting actual women in need.

6 Responses to catching the breast cancer “charity” scammers: an opportunity to level the playing field

Hi Carla – your site is a fount of information…I also got a call at the end of June from a group calling itself the American Breast Cancer Support Association (not Survivor) with a mailing address in Butler Wisconsin. I checked on Charity Navigator and couldn’t find a matching entity in Wisconsin, though there appears to be one in Tennessee…being a major procrastinator, I hadn’t sent a check yet (my pledge was for $15, but I was going to send them $100), and then today thought I’d check them out on the magic interwebs. I assume this is the same group you’ve been talking about on your blog…I’m in New Mexico, so apparently this scam is widespread. I greatly appreciate the information you have put out here for all of us to read. I hope your breast cancer battle is going well or has been sent into remission…and thanks.

Just got a call from the ‘National Breast Cancer Survivors Foundation’. The woman calling said they provide services to women who can’t afford mammograms and asked for a donation at platinum ($50), gold ($20), or silver ($10) levels. The number calling was local here (Cincinnati) (513) 725-3101 but when you call it back there’s a standard recorded message, no person. It acts like you can leave a message, then doesn’t give an option, but if you wait long enough it says it puts you on their no-call list after you enter your phone number. The woman who called had my husband’s name and our address. I know he donated to a charity recently and possibly they sold their list? Who knows. The woman confirmed my ‘pledge’ and transferred me to another woman who verified my information. Rethinking it, I googled this ‘charity’ and found your website.Now I won’t be donating. They said I will receive a pledge kit in the mail – if I do I’ll let you know.